The government approved two draft laws of the Exercise of Political Rights and the Parliament after it added amendments to the Parliament law.

Amendments to parliamentary elections law continue to draw criticism from political parties, which claim they have not been consulted in the process.

Business

Cairo has created a list of projects to be sent to Gulf countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to provide funding worth $ 7.66 billion.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is set to auction 6 billion EGP ($839.1 million) in treasury bills Thursday, amid ongoing efforts to fill a soaring budget deficit, according to the CBE’s official website.

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) indexes surged during Thursday’s mid-session powered by a takeover offer by Beltone Financial along with a group of investors to buy a 20 percent stake in EFG-Hermes.

Egypt’s net foreign reserve fell from $205 million to $17.284 billion by the end of May, down from $17.489 billion in April.

In-depth:

El-Shamy in “good health”: The June 30 fact-finding committee, established by the interim President Adly Mansour in Jan. 2014 said Thursday that Abdullah Elshamy, a detained Al Jazeera journalist on a hunger strike, is in ‘good health.’